The present invention relates generally to freezer and warmer inserts and more particularly to freezer and warmer inserts for plastic food containers.
There are plastic food containers used for storing food sold on the market presently under well known brand names such as Tupperware, Ziplock and Glad. They come in a variety of specific sizes and shapes. They are designed to save space when storing food. There are also thin-walled versions of the same plastic food containers that are disposable. These plastic food containers are commonplace in kitchens. In addition, what makes the thinner version so useful is that each one is inexpensive and typically costs less than a dollar to purchase.
It is also well known to have thermally insulating “freezer packs” for cooling food placed adjacent or into food storage containers. “Freezer packs” are small plastic packages that contain a gel or a special liquid or fluid that stays cold for long period of time after being frozen in a freezer. They are typically used when transporting home made food for relatively long periods of time during travel, such as to school or office or on trips. Freezer packs can come in the form of plastic packages that are made of flexible plastic or of rigid plastic.
It is also known to have a material that is inside a flexible plastic container that can operate alternatively as a “freezer pack” and alternatively as a “hot pack” depending upon whether you put it in the freezer to become frozen of in the microwave oven to heat up. Such a product is sold by a company called Microban Products Company of Huntersville, N.C. under the name “Ice-Pak/Hot-Pak” and it carries inside it a gel having the name “Perma-Gel”.
The problem is that freezer and warmer packs themselves are not specifically designed to fit into the plastic food containers in a way that saves space. That is, their shape does not conform precisely to the bottom of the well known sizes of plastic food containers or for that matter or any kind of plastic food container. Consequently, taking a food storage container and a freezer pack (or hot pack) and then placing the freezer pack into the plastic food containers partly defeats the whole purpose of the space saving containers. It uses up an unnecessarily large proportion of the space of the plastic food container since it does not fit neatly into the shape of the food container.
Families desiring to thermally preserve food during travel commonly do not place the freezer pack or hot pack inside the food storage container since that is considered unsanitary and an inefficient use of space. Instead, they use yet a third container, an additional container besides the food storage container and besides the hot pack or freezer pack in order to keep the hot or freezer pack adjacent the food. The third container is either a specially designed cooler that was purchased, which is expensive, or a hastily improvised bag into which both the food storage container and the hot or freezer pack are placed. Use of a bag or other improvised third container is not efficient thermal preserver since it involves keeping the hot pack or freezer pack adjacent a side of the food storage container. Furthermore, that which requires having to worry about an extra thing and often when people are arranging food storage for trips they are in a hurry and one less thing to worry about would be an advantage.
In addition, known ice pack or hot pack inserts into plastic food containers (unlike the plastic food container itself) have crevices or ridges on the surface such that if one were to insert these freezer or hot packs into a plastic food container containing soup or a solid food having liquid, the freezer or hot pack would acquire stains that would be hard to wash off. Since food stains are considered not clean insofar as a user would not want them to come into contact with food to be eaten, the known ice or hot pack inserts could not be easily re-usable. Alternatively, these freezer and warmer packs would require another divider between it and the actual food in the container, which would be a disadvantage. This demonstrates the need for a thermal preservation system for food that is simultaneously efficient in terms of space, is sanitary and is very inexpensive.
In addition, the plastic food containers that are commonly used at homes come in many different size specifically to deal with the different types and sizes of food being stored. It is also known to have plastic food containers that are divided across the width of the container into various compartments, as seen in FIG. 6. What is needed is freezer and hot insert packs that are uniquely suited for the sizes and shapes of the plastic food containers that are commonly found everywhere and that fit into the containers in a space saving way. That would make them consistent with the space saving functions of the plastic food containers. Furthermore, there is a need to have such freezer or hot inserts that can be used for different types of foods simultaneously. For example, many prepared meals contain a variety of types of foods (grilled chicken, pasta salad, french toast and bacon, jello) each of which have different thermal preservation requirements.
In addition, if plastic freezer packs are to be placed in direct contact with food they must be easy to clean. The flexible freezer packs acquire nooks and crannies because of their inherent manufacture and because they are easily folded. These nooks and crannies accumulate food stains that would be hard to remove. Hard packs also have many grooves, ridges and other protrusions on their upper and lower surfaces and this lack of smoothness prevents the consumer from cleaning them completely. It should be noted that food stains make something not clean. In addition, with respect to known freezer packs whether they are soft or made of rigid plastic, they are not designed to conform to a bottom of commonly used plastic food containers.
Most compartmentalized plastic food containers are simply divided horizontally rather than vertically. If the amount of food in the compartment is small compared to the height of the compartment then a large part of the compartment is wasted. Consequently, there is also a need to have compartments of plastic food containers that are on more than one vertical level within a container.
Finally, there is a need to have a non-toxic material as the thermal preservation fluid if only because people do not want anything toxic near their food and also because children can gain access to the inserts.
The thermal preservation insert of the present invention is a space saving insert designed to be used in combination with space saving plastic food containers. It is not only efficient in terms of space but it is sanitary, safe and very inexpensive to make and use. In sum, the inserts of the present invention achieve all of the above objectives and have additional advantages.